ProtonMail is currently the most secure email service available. How does it work? How do you activate it? Here’s all the information.
It is called ProtonMail and it is a new email service created by CERN in Geneva.
Nothing new, it would seem; instead it has a well-defined peculiarity: it is spy-proof.
ProtonMail is currently almost entirely unassailable and, above all, after a “gestation” period lasting about eight months, it has reached the beta version.
ProtonMail is based on end-to-end encryption technology and thus protects conversations.
It is secure, it is proof against spies and even checks by authorities; not to mention that the service developed by CERN will soon be available to everyone, for a few dollars, although there is also talk of a completely free version.
The idea came to Andy Yen, Jason Stockman, Wei Sun, and Tingtao Zhou – these are the names of the four young researchers, all under 30, who developed this system – who, in the wake of the scandal related to the “checks” carried out by NSA staff, focused on providing an email inbox through which to send messages that can only be read by sender and recipient.
Not even those in charge of the project can decipher the content of ProtonMail inboxes. Therefore, even in the case of any specific requests from governments, the service managers should not provide access keys (since they are unknown) or backdoors, as this is not a foreseen procedure in Switzerland.
It is no coincidence that servers located on Swiss territory were chosen, in order to avoid potential external pressure.
ProtonMail cannot be defined as visually appealing, as the user-side platform is absolutely bare, minimal, without frills.
By the end of the summer, spy-proof inboxes will be available to everyone and – according to initial information – there will be a choice between a free and a paid version.
The former will be perfect for those who do not have particular storage needs for files, documents, photos, and multimedia material to send or receive.
The latter – whose price should be around $5 – also includes the availability of additional storage.
This will be the only source of income and maintenance for the platform, considering that no advertising space can be sold or displayed in any way.
ProtonMail should be the most secure email system available at the moment, however, it is well to emphasize that it is not entirely unassailable.
It is possible to breach it, but the CERN researchers have studied mechanisms for which a cyber attack would become too expensive, in terms of time and also in terms of cost.
As reported by Repubblica.it, in fact, the team has made it known that “in theory, no perfect security system exists, but our goal is to make mass digital surveillance so expensive and difficult that it becomes practically impossible“.
It is already possible to create a beta account on ProtonMail, while awaiting the final version in the coming months.
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